


Hot Coffee

by aMUSEment345



Category: Criminal Minds
Genre: Friendship, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-04
Updated: 2016-07-04
Packaged: 2018-07-21 13:34:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,833
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7389028
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aMUSEment345/pseuds/aMUSEment345
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>One shot. Post-ep to 10X18, 'Rock Creek Park', with spoilers for the episode. Reid returns to the BAU after helping Agent Loker.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Hot Coffee

**Hot Coffee**

"Hey, where were you? Hotch told us to take the rest of the day." JJ was just shouldering her purse when Reid came striding into the BAU.

"Me? Where was _I_?"

He winced, glad his back was to her so she couldn't see, but knowing she would pick up immediately on his weak attempt at diversion.

JJ's brows went up. _Hmm….this is interesting._ She decided she could afford a few more minutes, and put her bag back down on her desk.

"Yes, you. Where were you? We looked all over."

"Why? Did you need me? Was Hotch looking for me?"

"No. I told you, he said we could have the rest of the day, since yesterday started six hours before it should have."

"Oh. Well, no worries then. I didn't miss anything."

Reid felt the blush creeping up his neck when JJ pulled out her chair and sat down, obviously now settling in for a longer conversation.

"Why aren't you leaving?" Still hoping she would decide to do so.

Her lips were trying very hard not to spread into a smile. Jennifer Jareau may have been a relative newcomer to profiling, but she'd been able to read her best friend for a very long time.

"I'll leave, in a little bit. No rush. Henry's not even out of school yet."

"Oh." Reid fiddled with a pencil from his desk, internally arguing whether or not to tell her. _Which is stupid, you social idiot. Who has trouble telling their best friend they're going for coffee with someone? Why is it such a big deal?_

Maybe because of Maeve. Because of how he'd handled the dispensation of information about her. With Maeve, telling anyone hadn't even been a question. The nature of their relationship, the necessity of keeping it hidden from her stalker, the fact that they hadn't even met…all of it had conspired to prevent Reid from even considering telling anyone about it. _They'd think I was crazy. They'd_ know _I was crazy._ So he'd kept it to himself.

But there was nothing out of the ordinary in this new-found friendship. There really wasn't a reason not to tell. _So why am I avoiding the issue?_

JJ sat, bemused, and watched his facial expressions change in rapid succession as he carried on his internal argument. When it looked like a good time, she queried him again. "So, back to my original question….where were you?"

He started doodling on a pad. "I went back to the surveillance apartment, to help break it down."

"Oh." Looking for something else to draw him out. "That was nice of you." Still nothing, trying again. "Wasn't it?"

He shrugged. "I guess. There was a fair amount of stuff to pack up, so….."

"So, you thought you'd help."

"Yep."

"Well….good. Agent…..what was the agent's name again?"

Reid stopped what he was doing, put down the pencil and pad, and looked directly at her. _All right, so you're on to me_. He leaned back in his chair and put his feet up on his desk.

"Agent Loker. Agent Dorian Loker."

"Dorian…..that's a female name, right?"

He was ready for that one. "Not necessarily. There's Dorian Gray, for instance. You know, from Oscar Wilde's 'The Picture of Dorian Gray'. That Dorian was a male."

JJ made a show of leaning back in her own desk chair, and plopping her legs on her desk. Had she done so wearing something other than her slim pencil skirt, the material might have ridden up on her. But, as it was, all Reid could see were her calves. The sight of which he didn't mind at all.

"All right, I guess we're going to do it the hard way. So, the fictional Dorian Gray notwithstanding….. is _your_ Dorian a male or a female?"

"She's not _my_ Dorian….but, yes, obviously she's a female."

"Is she pretty?"

"What does that have to do with anything?" A little annoyed.

JJ had the grace to blush. "Nothing. My bad. So….you went back to help Agent Loker pack things up."

"Yes."

"And…?"

"And what?"

JJ swung her legs back down and rolled her chair over to Reid's.

"Spence, are you going to make me pull it out of you?" She stared at him with just a hint of impatience ….. and a hefty dose of amusement, tinged with blatant affection.

The latter got to him. _Why not? She only wants what's best for me._

"All right. I asked her to go out for coffee….."

JJ made no attempt to mask her smile now. "And?"

"And, she said 'yes'." Unable to keep a residual trace of wonder from his voice.

It had been, technically, the second time he'd asked someone out. And he was having this conversation with the object of his first attempt. It seemed so silly, in retrospect. Asking someone on a date had seemed such an insurmountable task….until he'd done it. The words had just come out, and it was done. So simple. _Except_ , he thought, _I did it in Russian. So I could claim I'd misspoken, in case she was put off. I still don't know that I can do it in English._

JJ had picked up on the amazement in his voice. "Well, of course she would say 'yes'. Why wouldn't she?"

He squinted at her, not quite sure if she was sincere. "I don't know. Maybe because the first thing I did was to give away the ending of the book she was trying to read. Then I almost blew her entire operation, literally months of surveillance, by trying to rescue someone who didn't need rescuing."

She'd heard about the last item, but not about the book. "What book?"

"Great Expectations."

"By Dickens? Who reads that after high school?" Certainly not _her_ choice of reading material. Not even _in_ high school.

He managed a dramatic clearing of his throat. "Uh….me? Agent Loker?"

"Oops. Sorry. I guess you're not the only one capable of a faux pas."

"No harm. Anyway, I kind of ruined it for her, and I wanted to apologize about it, and so I thought I would go and help her."

_Because you couldn't apologize right when it happened? You needed to go all the way back there just to do it. Right, my friend._ She fought her smile once again.

"So…you two have a common interest in literature. That's good, right?"

He nodded, silent.

"Anything else?"

"Anything else what?"

"Do you have anything else in common?"

He thought it over. "Well….we both work for the FBI. And we both have expertise in languages. Some, anyway. We both speak Russian."

"Oh, that's right, of course. So, did you chat her up in Russian?"

It was his turn to squint at her again. "How did you know?"

She didn't quite understand. "That you spoke Russian with her? Wasn't that what the surveillance was about…..watching those low-level Russian mobsters?"

"But how…." Now realizing she wasn't talking about how he'd arranged his date. "Nevermind."

"So, when is your date?"

That's when he realized. They'd never set one. He'd been so pumped that he'd invited her and she'd accepted, that he'd forgotten to seal the deal. But he wasn't about to tell that to JJ. _I guess I'm going to learn to do it in English sooner than I thought._ He would call her when he was alone.

"It's not exactly a date. We're just having coffee." Hoping she wouldn't notice he hadn't actually answered her question.

"A coffee date is a date, Spence." She looked sideways at him, taking measure. "Are you okay-you know-with the idea of dating?"

The way she'd said it told him she was really asking something else, and he understood. He knew she'd been worried about him for the past two years. He'd been worried about himself, if he was honest. And the very idea of dating, of 'moving on', had been, for a very long time, repugnant to him.

"I learned not to look too far into my future, JJ. So I'm not thinking about dating. I'm just thinking about having coffee with a new friend."

She took her time mulling over his words. _If he needs to do this slowly, I guess I understand. And, he's right….who cares if it works out? It's just coffee. But it's also a giant step. A much-needed, much-prayed-for, giant step._

"You know, you're right. It's just coffee." JJ got up and reached for her bag once again. "But I can tell you that Agent Dorian Loker is one lucky lady, having 'just coffee' with Spencer Reid."

He laughed. "Right." He stood and lifted his own bag, thinking he might as well head for home, too.

"I'm serious, Spence. Any girl would be lucky to spend time with you."

Even as she heard herself saying them, the words gave JJ pause. She'd started out wanting to give him an ego boost, and ended up surprised to hear how true her words rang.

"Right. Because I'm so suave." He made a show of straightening his tie.

She smiled. "Suave is probably not a word I'd ever use to describe you. But smart, and sincere, and noble and handsome… I'd use all of those." She hefted her bag to her shoulder once again, and moved away from her desk.

Reid just stood there, dumbfounded. "You would?"

"I would. I'd use all of those words. As a matter of fact, I'm sure I have, at one time or another. Not to mention one more…." Watching for his reaction…." I believe I've used the word 'hot'."

"Hot?!" Exactly the reaction she'd expected. And yet….

She turned to him again, shaking her head. "You really don't see it, do you? Do you ever even look in a mirror?"

Judging from the usual state of his hair, it was a distinct possibility that he did not.

"But…."

"No 'buts' about it, Spence. To tell you the truth, I'm a little bit jealous of the woman who goes out with you. If I weren't married…"

Reid's eyes widened. "You weren't married when we went to that football game."

"I was ten years younger and more foolish. Now I'm old and wise."

He smiled at her. "You're not old. And you're every bit as beautiful now as you were then. More, even."

JJ returned his smile. "You know, I think we should make this a new tradition. At the end of every day, we should spend a little time stroking one another's ego."

He slung his bag across his torso and joined her. "No ego-stroking about it. I'm just telling the truth."

"As am I, Spence."

He crooked his arm and she slid her hand through, and the two slipped together through the glass doors of the BAU. They stopped at the elevator, where Reid pushed the 'down' button.

"Hey," he said, "if Henry's not going to be home for a while, do you want to go for coffee?"


End file.
